


The Rebellion Rises

by CT1409



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Gen, Lesbian Adora (She-Ra), Rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25409611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CT1409/pseuds/CT1409
Summary: A re-write of Star Wars: A New Hope but with the SPOP characters
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	1. Flight of The Rebellion

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, I'm Joel. I've never really written a fic before, but I thought She-Ra's season 5 taking place in space for a bit was pretty cool, and it inspired me to re-write a New Hope but with She-Ra characters. Some of the dialogue is same-y but I tried to keep most of it in character with spop characters. The imperial logo thing in this is the horde insignia, for reference.

The pink and white Corellian CR90 Corvette, the Bright Moon, chugged along above the desert planet Tatooine, pursued by an Imperial Star Destroyer whose engines were set to full power. Green laser blasts fired from the pursuing destroyers’ cannons, blasting the Bright Moon’s shields, causing the entire ship to lurch. On board the Bright Moon, rebel soldiers scrambled all around, preparing for the inevitable tractor beam that would allow the Empire to board their ship. Princess Glimmer of Etheria, Imperial Senator and Diplomat, needed to be protected at all costs, as the plans she was carrying could save the entire galaxy from the tyranny of the Empire. Currently, she was in her private quarters, using a holocommunicator to speak with her mother Angella on Etheria. A modest room, one much smaller than a Princess as herself would normally be accustomed to, with just a bed, a bathroom and a desk with a single framed photo of the Princess and her closest friend, a very handsome dark skinned boy named Bow, with their arms around each other. The pink walls of the room seemed to close in on her as she was filled with a sense of dread, unable to shake the sickening feeling in her gut that this was the last time she would speak to her mother, that the Empire would have her killed for her treachery against it. 

“I’m sorry mom,” Glimmer cried, “I shouldn’t have come here myself. It was stupid and I didn’t think-“ 

“Glimmer darling, you did what you thought was right and I am proud of you,” Angella spoke softly, a smile creeping across her face. “You are so brave, and your father and I could not be more proud. Have strength. I know you will survive this, I can feel it.” With both of her hands, Glimmer wiped the tears from her eyes. 

“Thanks mom,” she said, a weak smile spreading across her face, “I’ll do my best. I love you, a-and.. tell dad I love him too. I have to go now.” Angella nodded with a smile, and even through the blue, static ridden holotransmission, Glimmer could see the love in her eyes and her expression. 

“We love you too.”

* * *

SCR-PA, nicknamed Scorpia by Glimmer, a buff red protocol droid, and her little green astromech partner EM-LE watched from an open door as the bucket-helmeted rebel soldiers lined up in a long corridor by the airlock. The ship had been pulled into a tractor beam, and was docked below the Imperial Star Destroyer’s belly, meaning stormtroopers clad in their black and gray armor, decorated with that red emblem that spread fear throughout the galaxy, would be spilling out of that airlock door any moment. 

“Wow EM-LE this sure is scary!” Scorpia exclaimed as rebel soldiers clambered past the pair to join the squad. EM-LE beeped in response as sparks appeared around the frame of the door, tracing it from the bottom up around both sides towards the top. “I agree, we should get out of here.” Scorpia worriedly replies. As if on cue, the sparks tracing the doors met. It was silent for a moment. The rebel soldiers glanced at each other, sweat beading on their foreheads. The rebel closest to the door, on one knee, slowly began to stand and move towards the door. As he took the first step, the door exploded, flying forward and killing the soldier instantly, and a pair of stormtroopers walked out, blasters blazing. “Time to go!” Scorpia shouted, and she hurried out across the hall towards the escape pod bay, EM-LE following close behind as laser bolts whizzed past both of their heads. The rebels dropped the stormtroopers easily at first- it was just one door, so a squad wouldn’t be hard to bottleneck. This seemed to be the case for a while, but they just kept coming, a luxury of reinforcements that the rebels on ship did not have. Eventually the corridor was cleared out, save for one rebel attempting to crawl towards the hall that Scorpia and EM-LE had escaped in. Noticing this, a Stormtrooper turned and blasted him in the back. He stopped crawling. The 10 or so troopers in the hallway stood on opposite sides at attention as a shadowy figure walked through. She was dressed in a black jumpsuit, highlighted with the red Imperial logo proud across the chest. With it she wore a dual colored billowing waistcape with the inside being red and the back side being black, topped with a matching cape around her shoulders. She wore a black mask covering all her face aside from the thick brown hair that fell on her shoulders. As she walked in, her soldiers remained at attention, and she could feel the fear and respect that practically rolled off of their auras.

“Commander,” The shadowy figure’s metallic, distorted voice spoke through the mask, turning to the stormtrooper commander, who was denoted by his red colored shoulder pauldron. She continued, “Tear this ship apart. Set your weapons to stun. I want any passengers you find alive.” 

“Yes my lord,” the commander said. Repeating Lord She-Ra’s orders to his men, they mobilized and moved out. 

* * *

Scorpia and EM-LE had gotten a bit separated on their way to the escape pod bay- Scorpia had suggested one route, insisting it was faster, but EM-LE felt otherwise. Naturally, EM-LE was right, leaving the more goofy of the pair to stumble in on EM and an olive skinned young woman wearing a long white dress, her pink hair in buns- it was the Princess. She was kneeling over EM, whispering something after placing what appeared to be a disk into a slot on the astromech’s body. 

“EM! There you are!” Scorpia exclaimed. Princess Glimmer looked at her with a sad smile, before turning her back and slinking off. EM beeped and whistled, beckoning Scorpia to follow her. “What about Princess Glimmer?” Scorpia asked EM, who replied by swiveling her head no. EM rolled into the escape pod, Scorpia in tow. Once Scorpia had gotten in her seat, EM launched the pod. “Wow. Space is so pretty and cool,” Scorpia said, amazed as they hurdled towards the planet below. Gazing out the viewport, the Star Destroyer got smaller and smaller, until it was completely gone. 

* * *

The stormtroopers kept combing the ship. Glimmer, still in the escape pod bay, held her blaster close to her chest when- 

“There’s one! Set for stun!” a tinny, metallic voice called out. Glimmer turned 180 degrees, blasting the source of the voice. The stormtrooper fell over dead, but his two squadmates blasted right back. Blue rings of plasma flew from their guns, catching Glimmer square in the chest, sending her stumbling backwards, unconscious. Putting her arms around their shoulders, the pair of troopers dragged Glimmer out of the escape pod bay and through the corridors, back to where Lord She-Ra stood. Glimmer began to stir, looking up at her captor. Her eyes widened with fear as she looked around her, the body of the ships captain at the evil woman’s feet. She looked up at She-Ra, glaring at her where her eyes would be if not covered by the mask she wore. 

“She-Ra,” Glimmer spat, a newfound confidence welling in her body, “I should have known it would be you. Only you would attack an unarmed ship on a mercy mission to Etheria.” She couldn’t tell from the expressionless mask on She-Ra’s face, but she could tell that the evil woman was not convinced. 

“Don’t play games with me Princess. I know you are working for the rebellion. We intercepted your transmission. Where are the plans that your spies sent over?” She-Ra seethed, “We know you have them, traitor.” 

“I am NOT a traitor,” Glimmer shouted, “I’M on the Imperial senate, on a diplo-“ 

“You are part of the rebel alliance, and a traitor. If you do not want to tell us where the plans are, we will force it out of you. Take her away.” She-Ra angrily shouted. The stormtroopers put Glimmer’s hands in binders and shoved her down the hallway to the airlock, passing by a gray uniformed naval officer walking down the hall towards She-Ra.

“My lord, an escape pod had been jettisoned to the planet below, but there were no life forms on board. We held fire. Would you like us to investigate?” She-Ra turned and looked down upon the naval officer, looking him up and down. A pang of anger flashed throughout her body, leaving her unsure of whether to snap the man’s neck on the spot or not. Ultimately she decided against it, instead ordering him to send forces to the planet below to investigate. Nodding, the man quickly ran away back towards the airlock and the friendly Star Destroyer. She-Ra took a final glance at the corpses surrounding her and strode down the airlock back towards her ship. 

* * *

The Crimson Waste was brutal for anyone on Tatooine, and while the pair of droids didn’t exactly know where they were, they knew they were in a situation. “Man, this desert really really stinks! Where do we even go from here? Hey as long as we are together we will be just fine!” Scorpia chirped, bending down and hugging EM-LE. EM beeped happily, pointing out the tread marks on the ground to Scorpia. “Ooo you wanna follow these?! Sounds like a plan, let’s do it!” Scorpia exclaimed excitedly to the little Astromech. They picked a direction (EM claimed that because of the way the pattern of the treads fell, it was this way) and followed it. For a while it was sand dune after sand dune, with blaring heat from the twin suns above beating down violently upon them. After walking for what seemed like hours, they finally made their way into a valley, shade and shadow blocking out the sun, with the silhouette of the large tank-like sandcrawler looming in the distance. EM let out a few worried beeps. 

“Aw don’t worry EM! I’m sure it’s fine, we can go walk up and knock and ask for directions!” The ever cheerful Scorpia said happily. EM shuddered as Scorpia started to shuffle towards the sandcrawler, failing to notice the small hooded figures with glowing yellow eyes surrounding them. The last thing that the pairs audioreceptors heard before the darkness were the pops of the jawas ion blasters.


	2. A New Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> figured id upload this one too today since it was written already. if anyone wants to criticize feel free, its welcomed

“Adora!” 

Adora groaned. The Crimson Waste truly was a wasteland, and living there, farming moisture on the day to day instead of up in the skies flying was most certainly not her cup of tea. Her friends had already left long ago to join the Rebellion, and she hadn’t heard from any of them since. Today was a good day for Adora; her family had just gotten paid, and she could go pick up some power converters at Salineas Station, as the old ones on her T-16 skyhopper had been blown in an accident. Adora swears to herself that it wasn’t her fault, however- the converter must’ve failed on its own, she was too good a pilot to hear otherwise. The blonde stretched out, glancing at the time- 0800 on the nose. She rolled her eyes, unhappy to be awake at this time of day. Her uncle Randor just HAD to wake her up to buy the droids now, after her grueling labor farming last night. Sitting up and letting her legs hang off the left side of her bed close to the door, she took a deep breath in, and soaked in her surrounding room. It wasn’t huge- tan walls with a small bed in the center, a dresser for the few outfits she had, with a small replica T-16 skyhopper on top of it. She changed into her clothes for the day- a white tunic with beige pants and matching boots. She strapped on her black utility belt, just in time to hear her name called once again. Rolling her eyes, she put her hair up in a ponytail and headed upstairs to the kitchen area, where her aunt Marlena and uncle Randor both waited with breakfast- roasted tusken bread with a glass of blue milk. Adora jogged to the table, sitting down to eat. 

“Eat quick”, Randor said grumpily, “The jawa merchants should be here with a new droid stock at 0830”. The family’s old droids had broken down on them recently- causing Adora and Randor to double up on the labor, and making operating the vaporators significantly harder for the pair. Moisture farming had to be one of the most boring pastimes in the entire galaxy, but on a desert rock like Tatooine, it had to be done. Scarfing down her food and earning a look from her aunt, Adora grinned and stood up next to her uncle, who in turn raised an eyebrow at her. “Ready?” he asked. Adora nodded, wiping crumbs from her mouth. Randor walked past her and up the stairs, Adora following suit. Reaching the top of the homestead and walking out the front door, the pair could see the large jawa sandcrawler in the distance, slowly lumbering towards them, looking to be right in schedule. 

“Adora!” Marlena called. Adora turned, jogging over to the large hole in the ground and looking down towards her aunt. “Make sure your uncle gets a protocol droid this time. And make sure it speaks Bocce!” Adora nodded. 

“I’ll make sure to remind him,” she replied, turning to meet back up with her uncle, who was waiting right in front of the massive sandcrawler that had just parked. The front door hissed, and opened to a massive ramp, in which a small herd of jawas stumbled out with a collection of droids in tow. 6 droids, to be exact- not exactly a prime selection to choose from. All but two looked badly beaten up and damaged- the two that didn’t were still filthy, covered in grime and oil, along what appeared to be ion scoring on both of their bodies. Randor groaned, looking at the droid selection in front of him. “You should definitely grab the red one, aunt Marlena said to grab a protocol droid,” Adora reminded him, “And make sure it speaks Bocce as well!” Randor grunted, walking over to address the droid. 

“You there, droid,” he said gruffly. Scorpia looked to her left and right, seeing if he’d be addressing someone behind her. “You’re a protocol droid are you not?” Scorpia looked down at herself before replying. 

“Oh me!?” she said cheerfully. “Why yes I am, my name is-“ 

“Don’t care,” Randor grunted, “You speak Bocce?” 

“Oooh Bocce! I happen to speak Bocce yes! i also speak about 3 million-“ she began, before she was rudely cut off by the grumpy Randor. 

“Again, don’t care,” he grumbled, turning to the jawas. “We’ll take this one and the stubby little green astro droid.” EM-LE chirped happily in response. “Adora, take them to the house while I speak with them,” he said, gesturing towards the Jawas. “Clean them both up and get them set up for the day. You’re gonna watch em and make sure they’re doing their jobs right.” Adora’s face flushed red. 

“But uncle Randor, I was gonna go to Salineas Station and pick up some power converters!” she whined. 

“You can waste time once the chores and farming are done for the day. Go after dinner.” Adora sighed, resigned to her fate. She wasn’t huge on going after dark.  _ I’ll just go tomorrow _ , she thought to herself sadly. 

“Come on guys, let’s clean you up,” Adora said to the pair of droids. EM beeped happily, earning an enthusiastic reply from Scorpia who Adora toned out for the time being, dragging her feet towards the homestead, looping around to a hut on the opposite side. The droids slowly followed her down the stairs of the hut, which housed a small workshop inside, with an oil bath in the middle. 

“O. m. g. Wow! that looks so comfy!” Scorpia exclaimed. “Do I get to bathe in it?” Adora nodded. 

“I have to get you both cleaned up,” she grumbled. “I’m Adora, by the way. Adora Hope.” 

“Hey Adora!” Scorpia exclaimed. “I am SCR-PA, but mostly everyone calls me Scorpia! And this is EM-LE. She’s a feisty one but a good one!” EM beeped happily in reply. Scorpia walked over to the oil bath, sitting down and submerging herself completely in it. EM beeped grumpily at her. “Hey don’t you say that! You’ll get your turn next, just be patient!” Adora glanced between the two. She vaguely knew how to speak droid, due to the large amounts of time she spent working on the farm with them, and what EM had said wasn’t exactly PG from what she could gather. To save time, Adora grabbed a rag and greased it with cleaner, beginning to scrub EM clean. 

“You’ll get your oil bath too, don’t worry,” she said to EM, sensing by a few frustrated beeps that she did not want this hand scrubbing to replace the bath. Some time passed, and Scorpia swapped positions with EM, with Adora budding out some carbon scoring- the oil bath had cleaned off the ion scoring from the jawa attack the previous day. Noting the odd amount of scoring on Scorpia, gears in Adora’s head began to turn. When EM’s oil bath revealed even more carbon scoring, Adora couldn’t help but ask. “You guys have a LOT of carbon scoring all over you. Have you guys been in a lot of battles or something?” Scorpia tilted her head at Adora. 

“Of course!” She exclaimed. “Tons of battles. being a part of the rebellion does that to you. I dunno if I’m supposed to tell you that though. I hope so! I am good at keeping secrets you know..” Adora’s eyes widened as Scorpia continued to ramble. 

“You guys are in the Rebellion against the Empire!?” Adora asked excitedly. Scorpia nodded. “That’s awesome! I mean, can I join? I am just DYING to get off this burning rock.” EM beeped as the distracted Adora ran her fingers over the compartment where Glimmer had hid the disk. Adora glanced at her, shrugged, and continued to scrub the spot, which must’ve triggered something inside of EM, as a holorecording began to play from EM’s tiny little

projector. 

“Help me Jade Light-Hope, you’re my our chance for survival.” The hologram said before stuttering and repeating itself a few times. The hologram was of a young woman, on the shorter side with her hair in buns and monolid eyes. Adora stared at her. 

“She’s really pretty,” Adora gazed, turning to Scorpia. “Who is she?” Scorpia looked at EM, who shook her head no. 

“Just a passenger on the last ship we were on,” Scorpia replied. Adora raised an eyebrow, knowing that the droid wasn’t being completely truthful. Deciding not to press it for the time being, she shifted her focus. 

“What about Jade Light-Hope? I know a Lona Light-Hope, could that be her?” Adora said. This time she scored an earnest answer from Scorpia. 

“No idea boss. Never even heard that name before now.” EM beeped. “No you are not her property! We’ve never even met her, what do you mean?” More beeps. Scorpia sighed, turning to Adora and apologizing, “Sorry about the confusion, EM and I have been through a lot recently. I’m sure after a nice recharge she’ll be back to normal!” Adora agreed, shelving the subject matter for later. The day from there didn’t get much more interesting, and in fact dragged on a bit longer than Adora would have liked. Adora instructed the droids up until dinner time at 1800, where she was greeted at the kitchen table with a nice ronto roast and another glass of blue milk. Adora shuffled to the table and sat with her aunt and uncle. 

“Hey, Uncle Randor?” Adora asked. “I think those droids we bought were stolen. EM said she was the property of a Jade Light-Hope. Is that the old woman Lona that lives by the canyon?” Randor and Marlena shared an intense glance with each other, before Randor answered Adora’s question. 

“No. Jade Light-Hope died at the same time as your mother, they were old friends. Old woman Lona is a different person. Maybe a relative or something.” he grumbled. 

“Wait. She knew my mother??” Adora asked excitedly, wanting to know more. Randor’s face fell. 

“Drop it kiddo,” her uncle grumbled. She felt heat rise to her face, annoyed at being shut out. She barely knew anything about her mother, only that she died in an accident after giving birth to Adora, and that her uncle’s relationship with his sister was strained so he didn’t know much about her. Her thoughts were broken when her uncle spoke again. “I need you to prep those droids for more intensive labor tomorrow. I want them out south of the farm working on the condensers.” The heat Adora felt in her face continued to rise. 

“Okay,” she said. “I was thinking as well. With the new droids, can I finally submit my application to the academy?” The look her uncle gave her aunt before giving her another one made her stomach drop, as she knew what his answer would be. 

“Adora, sweetheart,” he said, his gruff tone lightening. “I need you. You know I do. One more season. Then you can apply. Okay?” Adora was past a simple heat in her face; she was angry now. 

“But we have the new droids, with more coming soon, and that's another whole year. You don’t need me anymore!” she argued. 

“Listen, after this season we can afford ranch hands finally. Then you can go, you have my word Adora,” Randor said, meeting Adora’s angry gaze. Her anger began to simmer and faze out, replaced by disappointment. 

“Fine,” she said, finishing her meal and standing up. 

“Sweetie, where are you going?” Marlena asked gently. 

“Apparently no where!” Adora huffed, throwing her arms in the air and walking across the homestead and upstairs towards the outside. Marlena turned to Randor, and their eyes met. 

“You know you can’t keep her here forever Randor,” she spoke softly. “The academy means a lot to her.” 

“I know,” he replied. “I know, I just- I want her to be safe. And the help as well, I couldn’t do all of this without her.” A soft smile crept across Marlena’s face, and she reached across the table and took his hand in hers. 

“I know darling. but you and I both know she’s not a farmer. She’s a lot like her mother when she was her age.” 

“Yeah. and that’s what worries me the most.”

* * *

Adora stood at the top of the homestead, her right foot on a rock. She gazed out across the barren desert, into the sky and watched the twin suns set. It was beautiful. A gust of wind kicked through her hair. She rested a hand on her knee, longing, looking to the distance, thinking about how badly she wanted to be out up there among the stars, on an adventure of her own. She sighed. The suns had almost set entirely, so she took it upon herself to call it a night. Treading downstairs into her room, she immediately noticed something was off; she’d left the pair of droids in there earlier, right before dinner to recharge, but neither were standing where she left them. She whipped around and noticed Scorpia standing in the corner of the room. 

“I-I am SO sorry Adora, I told her it was a bad idea but she refused to listen to me! I hope we aren’t in too much trouble!” Scorpia cried.  _ Damn it _ , Adora thought to herself. She rummaged through a drawer, finding her macrobinoculars, and ran up the stairs, Scorpia following closely behind. Upon leaving the front door, she immediately put the binoculars to her eyes and scanned the area for EM-LE, but nothing. “We have to find her!” Scorpia cried. 

“We’re gonna have to first thing in the morning tomorrow. Tusken Raiders are out at night and trust me you do NOT wanna mess with those guys.” Adora let out a sigh. “C’mon Scorpia, lets go.” They walked back into the homestead for the night, the door sliding shut behind them as they walked past. 

* * *

First thing in the morning, at 0600 sharp, Adora and Scorpia left the homestead, with Adora leaving a quick note on the kitchen table, sure that her aunt would see it. She made sure to mention that both droids were coming with her- this would also lower suspicion off her back on her uncle's side, so he didn’t think EM (or Adora herself) had run off. The pair hopped on Adora’s X-34 Landspeeder and took off, roaring through the desert at a very unsafe speed. Luckily for them, the speeder had been fitted with a scanner, so it would be able to pick up any signals from nearby runaway droids- coupled with the fact that astromech droids were generally very slow, Adora was confident that she’d find the droid. Sure enough, EM was picked up on the scanner in a canyon nearby, so they drove over to it, finding EM slowly dragging herself through the middle of it. Adora stopped the speeder, and her and Scorpia hopped out. 

“EM-LE! What were you thinking?? You could’ve gotten lost or hurt!” Scorpia cried. EM made a few disappointed beeps as if she was in trouble. 

“Hey it’s okay,” Adora said, running her hand over EM’s dome to soothe her. EM seemed reassured for a moment, but a few worried beeps made Adora raise an eyebrow. She turned to Scorpia. “What’s she freaking out about?”

“Oh, she says that there’s a bunch of life forms all around us right now, closing in from a few directions!” Scorpia said. Adora gulped. She knew what this meant, and she wasn’t exactly thrilled. 

“Tusken Raiders,” she sighed, grabbing her cycler rifle and binoculars from the back of the landspeeder. “C’mon, let’s check it out.” They walked up the left side of the canyon, reaching an outcrop of rocks. Adora leaned the rifle on one of the rocks, bringing the binoculars up to her eyes. She panned the binoculars around the open desert, looking for any sign of the raiders when. Adora zeroed in on a pair of Banthas- big, wooly creatures with ram-like horns. Tusken Raiders would travel in packs, riding in pairs upon the beasts. As if on cue, a single raider walked out from behind one of the banthas, holding a cycler rifle of his own, unfastening a bag from the back of one of the banthas. 

“Yeah, those are tusken raiders alright,” Adora said calmly, squinting through the binoculars. “But usually they travel in groups, I don’t see the rest of them.” As soon as she finished speaking, the face of a tusken appeared in her binoculars- extremely close up. Adora yelped, dropping the binocs and falling flat on her butt as the tusken raider that had snuck up on her stood on the rock she was leaning on. It wailed, raising its club above its head repeatedly before jumping down to attack Adora. It swung, but Adora rolled to her left, the metal club clanging into the ground. It swung again, but Adora was too fast, another clang ringing out as the club slammed into the ground. The tusken screamed in anger; the third swing didn’t miss. Another tusken walked up to Adora, and the pair of them dragged her down the rocky cliff side back to the speeder, dropping her on the ground. Scorpia hadn’t fared much better- she was missing a leg, incapacitated on the ground as the second pair of tuskens rummaged through Adora’s landspeeder, tossing a few tools aside, looking for food and valuables. EM had managed to hide inside a tiny cave, watching the ordeal happen while hidden safe- for the moment. The tuskens were too busy digging through Adora’s speeder to notice a hooded figure, their face obscured by the shadows, clambering down the rocky features towards them. The figure let out a horrible wail, and the tuskens jumped, looking at one another before dropping their loot and bolting off. The figure stopped in front of Adora, kneeling before her, pressing a hand to her forehead. The figure took off their hood to reveal an older woman- a pretty one, with graying hair, who turned to face EM in her little cave. 

“Hello there,” she droned. EM beeped. “It is safe now. you may come out.” EM beeped to the woman, asking if Adora was going to be okay. The woman seemed to understand EM’s beeps, so she replied “She will be alright. Do not worry.” She shook Adora’s shoulder gently, causing her to stir. Adora’s eyes slowly opened, focusing on the woman in front of her. Propping herself up on her elbows with a bit of assistance from the woman, Adora took in her surroundings. “Rest easy Adora. You have had quite the day.” Adora groaned, rubbing her head where she’d gotten hit. 

“Ms. Light-Hope?” Adora said, making eye contact with the woman. Ms. Light-Hope gave Adora a soft smile as she helped her to her feet. 

“What are you doing so far out here? The Crimson Waste is not a safe place for anyone this far out.” 

“Well EM is the reason we’re out here,” Adora said, gesturing towards the droid, “EM is her. The droid. My droid. Or your droid? I dunno. She said she’s the property of a Jade Light-Hope, but we just bought her.” Ms. Light-Hope’s eyes widen at the mention of the name. “Do you uh.. do you know her?

“Yes. I do know Jade Light-Hope,” Ms. Light-Hope replied. “She is me. I have not used that name in 19 years. The same age as you.” She turned towards EM. “However, I have never owned a droid before, so this little one must be mistaken.” The way Jade looked at EM made her words seem more hollow than not, but Adora didn’t push it, instead shoving her curiosity back down inside. Realization dawned on her as her eyes passed over a red and black leg lying on the ground. 

“Scorpia!” Adora cried out, running over to the fallen droid. Jade slowly stood and made her way over to the droid as Adora helped her sit upright. Mara bent down and helped Adora lift the droid, placing one of her arms on each of the woman’s shoulders. 

“Don’t worry Adora! I am ooookay. I wasn’t programmed to feel pain really!” Scorpia happily said. The pair helped Scorpia and then EM onto the land speeder. 

“Come back to my home,” Jade said. “There I will tell you more about your mother. We need to be quick before the Tuskens return.” Adora’s eyes widened at the proposition. Jade instructed Adora on the way, the ride otherwise silent. After what felt like an hour to Adora (in reality, it was only about 25 minutes) they arrived at the old hut. It was small, maybe two rooms in total. The walls were a darker tan than the sandy exterior, with black pipes wrapping around all of the rounded interior walls. There wasn’t much decoration; a few shelves with necessities, a kitchen area, and a black couch that lined the curved wall. Next to the couch sat a brown wooden chest, the wood fraying and curling around its edges. Adora took a seat on the couch, and with EM’s help, started to attach Scorpia’s leg back to her body. Jade sat down next to the chest. She began to regale Adora with stories about her mother, the brave Mara Hope, jedi knight who fought in the Clone Wars. 

“No, that can’t be right. My uncle said she died in an accident, that she lived here.” Adora stammered. 

“Your uncle never approved of his sister’s ideals. He thought that your mother should’ve stayed out of it, stayed here and farmed with him.” Adora snorted at the sound of the familiarity. Jade shot her a look, causing Adora’s face to flush. 

“Uh, so you fought in the Clone Wars too?” Adora asked. 

“Yes. A jedi, just like your mother was”

Adora’s face fell. “I wish I got a chance to meet her.”

“Your mother was the best pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior. But what would have surprised you is how kind she was. A good friend. And maybe..” Jade trailed off.  _ Maybe what?  _ Adora thought.  _ Maybe more than that? We do have pretty similar last names. Maybe _ \- Adora’s trail of thought was cut off when Jade spoke again. “I have a gift for you. Your mother wanted you to have this once you were of proper age.” Turning to the chest, she pulled out a thin, cylindrical object. It was silver, with three black stripes around the bottom, and three vertical ones sprouting from the top one, leading all the way to what appeared to be a projector of sorts. She passed it over to Adora, who had just finished fixing Scorpia’s leg. She stood up, taking it in her hands. She stepped forwards, rotating it and finding a switch. Pointing it outwards, she slid the switch up and the saber ignited, a brilliant blade of blue light erupting from the projector. 

“Your mother’s lightsaber,” Jade began. “Your uncle forbade me from giving it to you. He did not want you following me on what he called a “fools journey.” Adora waved the saber around, a sparkle in her eyes. “For a thousand generations, the Jedi were guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic. Before the Empire rose to power.” 

“How did my mother die?” Adora asked. Darkness fell upon Jade’s face. 

“A young jedi named She-Ra,” Jade began. “She was a friend of mine. A student. But she fell to the dark side of the force. She helped the empire kill all of the jedi left in the galaxy. She betrayed and killed your mother, as well. The Jedi no longer exist now, thanks to her.” Adora’s face fell, crestfallen. 

“What’s… what’s the force?” Adora asked. “You mentioned the dark side. What is it?” The light seemed to return to Jade’s face, if only by the slightest little bit. 

“The force is what gives a Jedi their power. It is an energy field generated by all living things. It surrounds us, and binds us,” Jade explained. EM whistled and beeped, causing Mara to turn her attention. “Let us see this message you have brought for me.” EM played the full message, and the pretty young woman appeared again. 

“General Light-Hope, years ago you served my mother in the clone wars. Now she and the rebellion need your help against the Empire. I wanted to be there in person to speak with you, but my ship is currently under attack by the Empire. I have placed vital information for the Rebellion’s survival in the memory of this droid. Please bring it to my mother and father on Etheria. This is our most desperate hour. Help us, Jade Light-Hope, you’re our only chance for survival.” The message ended. Jade and Adora both sat back. Jade pondered her options for a moment, and Adora found it hard to read what she was thinking. They sat in deafening silence for a couple moments, before a soft smile appeared on Jade’s face, and she turned to Adora. 

“You must learn how to wield the force if you are to accompany me on the journey to Etheria,” Jade spoke softly. Adora’s face flushed. 

“Etheria! So pretty. I would love to go back. It's been a while!” Scorpia cheered, earning herself a slight look of annoyance from Adora and Jade. The two women turned back to face each other. 

“M-me? Nonononoooo I can’t go to Etheria! That’s so far and I’ve got tons of work to do around the farm. I’m not about the whole evil Empire thing but.. I can’t.” Adora sighed, defeated. “I’ll take you to the spaceport by Salineas, but that’s as far as we can go. I have to get back home, my uncle is gonna KILL me.” Jade smiled at her again. Adora clipped the saber to her belt, helping Jade up. 

“If that is what you wish,” Jade said. Of course, that isn’t what Adora wanted at all. Adora wasn’t a fan of the Empire by any stretch of the imagination; whenever they were in town, some innocent civilian was being dragged out of their home, never to be heard from again, not to mention the general poor quality of life the planet was constantly left in. She heard stories that their Star Destroyers had enough power to completely glass a planet- stories of course, but still ones that terrified her nonetheless. The pair walked out of the hut, over to Adora’s landspeeder, the two droids in tow. Piling on, Adora had a sick feeling in her gut. She couldn’t explain what it was, but she also couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. She’d had feelings like this before; when her friend growing up had fallen into a pit, stranded there until Adora happened upon him, and another time when her Aunt was stuck at the market, held up by some lowlife. She wasn’t sure why she got these sickening feelings, but they were never a good sign. Sure enough, on the way to Salineas station, they passed by the Jawa sandcrawler she and her uncle had bought the pair of droids from. It was a fairly unfortunate scene; a few of the tusken raider’s metal clubs, “gaffi sticks” Adora remembered them being called, were strewn about, with every single jawa on board lying dead on the ground. The massive sandcrawler itself billowed with smoke.  _ Was this the feeling I had in my gut? _ Adora wondered. 

“Raiders. They must’ve ambushed the jawas and killed them all. Poor things.” Adora sighed. Scorpia shuddered. 

“This.. this is awful! Poor little guys.” Scorpia said. EM beeped in agreement. 

“No..” Jade began. “These were not Tuskens who did this. Tuskens ride in single file- it hides their true numbers from those who try to track them. These are two pairs of tracks.” Jade ran her hand over some carbon scoring seared on the side of the sandcrawler, then turned to face the droids, drawing a connection between the two. “Tuskens use projectile weaponry. These marks were left by Stormtroopers.”

“Wait like, EMPIRE stormtroopers?? That can’t be right. Why’d they kill a bunch of jawas?! That doesn’t make any sense.” Adora asked frantically. She caught Jade’s eyes looking back and forth between the droids and the sandcrawler, and the sickening feeling in her stomach became much more clear. “They traced the droids here!” Adora shouted, panic in her voice. “That means they might be… oh no.” Adora took off, sprinting to the landspeeder. 

“Adora, do not go. You may not like what you find.” Jade said. Adora ignored her completely, kicking the speeder in gear and hurdling off towards her home. Sweat dropped down her forehead- not from the heat of the desert, but the pit in her stomach that twisted as each minute went by. Adora had no idea what her plan would be if she ran into stormtroopers, she realized she could be killed herself- but she had to try. She couldn’t just leave her uncle and aunt to die. Coming up on the homestead, her home, she immediately knew something was wrong. Thick black smoke was billowing up from each of the huts, causing tears to well in Adora’s eyes. She pulled the speeder to a halt, jumping out and sprinting around the homestead. 

“Aunt Marlena!! Uncle Randor!! Anyone?!” Adora cried out. She searched around back first, unable to get into the homestead itself due to the flames enveloping the doorway. “Uncle Randor?!” Adora called again. Running around to the front, something she saw made her stop dead in her tracks, and fall to her knees. Two blackened, charred skeletons laid in front of the doorway, arms outstretched, legs bent at the knee, as if they had been trying to crawl away to safety. Adora put her hand in front of her mouth, choking up on tears that she refused to let fall. Her vision blurred, her senses dulled, and the only thing she could feel was the gust of wind blowing lightly on her forehead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If people like my crummy work maybe I'll do Empire Strikes Back too. I dunno. Bow would show up in that one. I actually rewatched the movie for this fic since its been years since I last saw it. Hope its okay.


	3. The Captain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ones kinda long

She-Ra was not pleased. The obnoxious little princess had refused to crack, even under the pressure of the Empire’s vast array of torture devices. She glared at princess Glimmer’s unconscious form through the red ray shield that kept her in her cell block. She turned to leave, walking down black hallway of the detention block, illuminated only by the red light that shone through the floor grating. A figure morphed out of the darkness towards which She-Ra walked. Hatred rose in her chest when she realized who it was. The blue skinned, red eyed chiss Governor of the Imperial Senate and Grand Moff of the Imperial Military, Hordak, walked towards her. When he spoke, hatred so thick it could block an artery seeped from his tone. 

“She-Ra. What is the status of the prisoner?” he inquired. Moff Hordak was scary for sure- but She-Ra wasn’t afraid of him. 

“She has resisted every single probe, every tactic that we have thrown at her,” She-Ra growled. Hordak wasn’t pleased, but a sick smile spread across his face. 

“Well Lord She-Ra,” he sneered, “If you cannot get her to talk, I have an idea. We will get the truth out of her yet. Set course for Etheria”

* * *

When Adora made it back to Jade, Scorpia and EM, they had already made a funeral pyre for the dead jawas. Adora dismounted her land speeder, trodding over to the group with her shoulders slouched and her head hanging low. Jade looked at her with a warmth in her eyes. 

“They’re gone,” Adora said in a complete deadpan tone. Jade placed her hand on Adora’s shoulder. “I’ll train with you to use the force. There’s nothing left on this miserable rock for me.” Jade nodded. 

“Come Adora. It will be okay,” Jade said. “It is not your fault. Had you been there sooner, they would have killed you too.” Adora clenched her fists, wiping a tear from her eye with her thumb before it fell.  _ Or I could’ve saved them _ , Adora thought. Deep down, she knew Jade was right, but she couldn’t admit that to herself; she always blamed herself when things went wrong, and it was always on her shoulders when her family had troubles. Adora turned away and walked to the speeder, with Scorpia and EM already sitting on the back. 

“Wow, uh, I’m real sorry Adora. I give pretty good hugs if that would make you feel any better!” Scorpia exclaimed. Adora gave her a half smile. 

“Don’t worry about it. We should get going.” Adora replied. Jade climbed into the passenger side of the speeder, and they zoomed off towards Salineas station. 

* * *

The ride was quiet, but graciously short. Adora wasn’t exactly in the mood for small talk. EM and Scorpia exchanged a bit of banter, but it wasn’t anything Adora paid any mind to. The station- if it could really be called that, seeing as it was an open desert city bustling with people- was as crowded as ever, people mingling in the streets and crowding around speeder traffic. Adora groaned, maneuvering carefully as to not hit anyone. Jade instructed her to go to the Seaworthy Cantina- an odd name for a place located in the middle of the desert, but nonetheless Adora drove in that direction. EM let out a worried beep. 

“Oh no. I see ‘em too! Adora look!” Scorpia pointed. Adora’s stomach did a quadruple backflip- the Imperials had set up a security checkpoint, and it was smack in the middle of the road they needed to go down. Adora looked behind her, seeing if she could pull out and drive away, but to no avail; speeders were already lined up behind her. A mixed wave of anger and fear washed over Adora as she pulled into the checkpoint. The fear of being caught by the Empire, probably tortured and killed, and the pure anger of the thought that these could be the men responsible for torching her family. Her grip tightened on the steering controls, her knuckles whitening. Jade placed a hand on Adora’s shoulder, and Adora made eye contact with her. Jade’s purple eyes held a certain warmth to them, speaking to Adora’s blue-gray ones, telling her with unspoken words that it’s okay. Adora’s grip loosened, and she pulled into the checkpoint. Two stormtroopers flanked the speeder on each side. 

“These droids. How long have they been in your possession?” The commander asked. Adora began to open her mouth, but Jade answered before she got the chance. 

“About two seasons now. They are quite helpful.” Jade replied. The commander turned to Adora.

“Identification please.” The commander demanded. Jade smiled at him. She made a small wave with her hand. 

“You don’t need to see her identification,” Jade said coolly. Adora’s face flushed, panicked.  _ What is she doing they’re gonna kill us holy _ \- her thoughts and anxieties were interrupted by the shocking response the commander gave Jade. 

“I don’t need to see her identification.” Adora’s anxiety was replaced with confusion. 

“You want to let her go about her business.”

“I want to let her go about her business.”

“Have a nice day.”

“Have a nice day.” The commander waved them on. 

“What the- how did you do that!?” Adora asked in amazement, eyes wide. 

“A Jedi can use the force to influence the minds of the weak,” Jade replied with a smile. She turned and gestured to the cruddy looking building they approached on the left. “We are here”. The group dismounted from the speeder once Adora parked it, and walked inside the cantina. “Seaworthy,” Jade said to Adora. “This place breeds degeneracy. Keep an eye out for yourself and the droids.” Adora gulped and nodded. The droids, unfortunately, were forced to wait by the front. 

“Don’t worry boss! I’ll keep EM out of trouble!” Scorpia chimed happily. EM grumbled a few beeps. “Hey don’t be like that. We all know you love a bit of adventure!” EM beeped in agreement. Loud music from a band in the far corner flooded the cantina, with a rogues gallery of humans and aliens sitting at tables, playing drinking and card games, laughing or at each other’s throats. Jade was at the bar, speaking to a red-furred, 7 foot tall Wookie who wore a light blue bandolier. Adora sat besides her while she talked, ordering a glass of blue milk from the bartender. Flipping the man a credit, she thanked him and downed the jar, elbowing a grumpy looking walrus-like alien in the shoulder. 

“Whoops. Sorry about that,” Adora said. The Walrus man must have been drunk off his rocker- after one look at Adora, he angrily grabbed her by the shirt and shoved her to the ground. What happened next flashed by so quickly, if someone had blinked they may have missed the entire ordeal. The Walrus man drew his blaster pistol from his side, ready to shoot Adora dead for her very minor offense of brushing against him, and in a flash, Jade had activated a brilliant beam of blue light, slicing right through the man’s arm at the elbow. He screamed, falling over and clutching his wound. The band playing the music had stopped, and the bartender said nothing, but looked utterly unamused for a few moments, before rolling his eyes as the band began to play again, and he got back to work. Jade helped Adora up, apparently completely unfazed by the events that had just transpired. 

“Melog here has a deal for us. They said to follow them to their Captain in the back.” Jade said. Adora looked up at the wookie, who simply barked at her. Adora nodded, following the pair to a table in the back. Adora’s eyes caught on the captain, looking her up and down. She had tan skin, beautiful blue and yellow heterochromatic eyes, with freckles lining her face, and her wavy brown hair fell down to her shoulders. She wore black boots that went up to the middle of her shin, and blue pants with a yellow stripe going down the outside of her leg. Topping off the outfit, she wore a long sleeved white shirt with the collar quite open towards the top, and a cool black vest to tie it all together. Adora blushed furiously- she’d always had a thing for badass women, and she’d seen some on her visits to Salineas Station- but this woman, this captain, was the absolute most gorgeous woman she had even seen. Her old friends had always pointed out to her that when she fawned over a woman, it was INCREDIBLY obvious, and that couldn’t be more true of her in the current moment. The captain’s blue and yellow split eyes caught hers, noticing she was staring, and blushed for a moment before regaining her smug composure. 

“You gonna sit down sweetheart or what?” the captain asked. Adora was pulled back down from space at that moment, noticing that everyone at the table was looking at her, waiting for her to join the table. Adora choked a bit, before clearing her throat and sitting down. She glanced at the captain again, who had a smug look on her face. Adora blushed again. “Catra. Catra Solo,” the captain said, gesturing to herself. “I’m Captain of the Millenium Falcon. Melog says you need someone to take you to Etheria or whatever yeah?” Jade nodded. 

“Is your ship fast?” She asked. Catra snorted. 

“Fast? My ship is the FASTEST ship in the galaxy. Seriously, how have you not ever heard of the Millenium Falcon.” Catra asked, rolling her eyes. Melog roared in agreement. Adora and Jade both shook their heads no, earning a grunt from Catra. “Well whatever then. It’s pretty popular, take my word for it. I’ve outrun tons of those giant star destroyers the Empire has.”

“If it is fast, and you are capable, we will take it,” Jade said. “We need to avoid the Empire at all costs.”

“Okay. deal. ten thousand credits, upfront.” Adora gaped at Catra’s offer. Seeing this, Catra added “Fine, Nine thousand, Nine hundred credits because you’re cute.” Adora’s blush was back in full force, Catra smirking once again. 

“Ten thousand!! We could buy our own ship with that kind of money!” Adora exclaimed, getting a grip on herself. Catra giggled. 

“Who’s gonna fly it sweetheart? You?” Catra snorted, looking her up and down. Adora frowned, the blush on her face remaining. While she was annoyed at this Catra person, she could not deny the massive swarm of butterflies in her stomach when Catra called her sweetheart. 

“Maybe! Not to brag but I’m like, a pretty darn good pilot myself!” Adora said angrily. “Cmon Jade, let's get out of here.” Jade placed a hand on her forearm. 

“We can pay you five thousand in advance. If what you say is true, we will additionally pay you ten thousand once we arrive on Etheria.” Jade said, much to Catra and Adora’s surprise. 

“Fifteen thousand?” Catra said excitedly. “Deal. Meet us at docking bay 7 when you’re ready.” As Catra finished her sentence, she noticed a squad of Imperial Stormtroopers walk into the Cantina, accompanied by the walrus man that Jade had relieved of an arm- an arm he was holding in fact, gesturing towards the table where the group sat. “Hey uhh, maybe don’t be here right now?” Catra said. “Those imps seemed to have noticed your handiwork.” 

“Ha! Handiwork! I get it!” Scorpia laughed, causing Catra and Adora both to jump. She’d come around the back door with EM, in the cantina where she very much was not supposed to be. Catra grumbled. 

“Scorpia!” Adora hissed. “You can’t be here! Ugh! We gotta go, whatever. See you guys in a bit.” Adora abruptly stood up, grabbing Scorpia by the arm and dragging her out of the Cantina. Jade smiled as she stood, taking a bag of credits out of her pocket and placing it on the table in front of Catra before following Adora out the door. The minute they were out the door, Catra squealed. 

“Those guys must be SUPER desperate to get to Etheria. Fifteen thousand credits!” Catra cackled. Melog barked and laughed in agreement. “Start getting the ship ready. I’ll meet you there”. Melog nodded and hurried out the door. Catra chugged the rest of her drink and stood up, cracking her fingers and grinning. She started walking towards the side entrance to the bar when she found a blaster pointed square at her chest. Annoyance spread across her face as she was forced back into her seat. It was… _ Who was it _ ? Catra thought. She’d run into Lashor the Hutt’s bounty hunter multiple times, even worked a couple jobs with her, but the lady’s name wasn’t coming to her. Catra usually referred to her as the horned lady, or Lashor’s horned goon girl. Now would be a great time to remember, but of course she didn’t. 

“Hey… you! I was like, just going to see Lashor! I finally have all the money I owe him from dumping that shipment of spice.” Catra said, crossing her left leg over the table, stretching out and picking on the wall. 

“Too bad,” the horn lady grunted. “Lashor’s tired of waiting. He put a bounty on your head worth even more than the spice money you owe him! I’m gonna haul your body to him right now.” Catra raised an eyebrow and snorted at her, much to the horn lady’s dismay. Unfortunately for the horn lady, she was so distracted by Catra’s aggravating laugh, she didn’t notice her slowly unholstering the blaster pistol on her hip. “You think this is funny? Huh? How ‘bout I haul in Melog too and take the Falcon for myself!” Catra’s laugh faded, turning into a frown. 

“Over my dead body,” Catra sneered. Threatening her was one thing, but threatening both Melog and the Falcon was another in its entirety. Horn lady grinned, as Catra gripped the blaster in her hand, aiming it under the table square at Horn lady’s chest. 

“Duh, that’s what I’ve been saying I’m gonna do. I’ve been looking forward to this,” the Horn lady said with a grin. Catra was unamused. 

“Yeah, I bet you have been,” she replied with a nasty grin. Immediately, she pulled the trigger on her blaster, which shot a red bolt of energy through the table, catching Horn lady dead in the chest. Horn lady’s blaster fell out of her hand, and she slumped over on the table dead. For the second time within the hour, the band stopped playing for a moment. Catra stood up, stretching her arms. The band resumed playing again. She shot the bartender a smile and tossed him a few credits, and walked out the side door. 

* * *

Adora took one last look around Salineas Station. She’d just sold her landspeeder along with the keys to her T-16 skyhopper, letting the buyer know it’s location before completing the transaction. The combination of the two sales netted her enough credits to pay for Catra’s service fee, as well for whatever other supplies she’d need in the near future. She was never coming back here- there was no purpose. She signed, slinking after Scorpia and EM as they headed towards the docking bay that Catra had said to meet at. They entered the docking bay, to see Catra underneath her massive freighter with Melog, making a few repairs by the boarding ramp. Adora sized up the ship. Large, bulky and gray, with steam occasionally jetting out of the bottom of the ship around the landing gear. There was carbon scoring all over the ship, seemingly never cleaned too well, and overall it looked extremely beaten up. Adora groaned. 

“This ship is a piece of garbage. I shoulda just bought my own,” she whined, catching the attention of Catra. Catra frowned at her. 

“Well excuse me sweetheart, I’d watch yourself. The Falcon may look like much, but it’s got it where it counts.” Catra said. Jade had already taken Scorpia and EM aboard, so Adora was standing outside with just Catra and Melog. She stared at Catra, who caught on and smirked. “Well? What’re you waiting for, Adora? Get on board.” Her trance broken, Adora rolled her eyes and followed Melog on board why Catra finished the last repair to the ship. As she was about to get on board, she heard a loud thumping noise, which sounded far too much like an army of boots for her comfort. Sure enough, a squad of twelve or so stormtroopers rounded the corner, all fitted with fully automatic blaster rifles.  _ Shit _ , Catra thought to herself. 

“It’s them! Blast that ship!” a trooper cried out. Catra did not wanna be around much longer. Quickdrawing her blaster, Catra squeezed off a few shots, dropping two stormtroopers as she ran up the ramp, closing it behind her. 

“MELOG! WE HAVE COMPANY, GET US OUTTA HERE!” Catra shouted. Melog, already in the copilot’s chair, roared in acknowledgement to Catra. The ship lurched, but slowly lifted off the ground and into the sky. The small arms the stormtroopers wielded wouldn’t seal any real damage to the ship, and the loud peppering of their blasters filled the cockpit with noise. Catra jumped over the seat and got on the controls. The ship blazed through the sky, breaking through the atmosphere and into orbit. Melog barked at Catra. They’d spotted a pair of Star Destroyers blockading the planet. Catra smirked. “Keep em off me for a few will ya? I’m making the calcs for the jump to lightspeed.” Melog nodded. Adora burst into the cockpit, Jade bringing up the rear. 

“What’s going on? I thought you said this ship was fast!” Adora shouted. There was a flash of light and the Falcon rumbled. Catra checked the scanners, rolling her eyes. 

“Tie Fighters. We’re almost ready to jump to hyperspace,” Catra said. Adora panicked. 

“Wh-what!? Just jump now!” she shouted. Catra snorted. 

“And what, sweetheart, fly right through a sun or a star? How about the center of a planet? That’d end the trip real quick.” Catra shot back at her. “We gotta be precise or we’ll be dead. Melog, those ties!” The screams of the tie fighters swooping above them were deafening, and they pelted the hull of the ship with laser fire. Melog shot one down as it tried to pull away, and they growled victoriously. “We’re good! Punch it!” Catra shouted, as her and Melog pulled a switch in the middle console. The stars seemed to turn blue and stretch themselves out, and the engines crackled was they blasted into hyperspace.

* * *

She-ra, escorted by a small squad of stormtroopers, shoved Glimmer onto the command deck, where Moff Hordak was waiting, staring out the viewport into the open space. 

“You,” Glimmer spat. “Of course YOU’RE here. I should’ve known you’d be the one having me tortured.” Hordak grinned at her. 

“I think it is time we showed our guest what this battle station can do.” Hordak said in his normal sinister tone. He gestured towards the viewport, urging Glimmer to look outside. At first there was nothing- but slowly, a planet appeared in the viewport. “I would love to give our Emperor a demonstration on how effective this battle station is. Etheria is a nice target don’t you think?” Glimmer’s bravado dropped, replaced by a rising sense of fear. 

“What.. what do you mean?” she asked. Hordak grinned. 

“This station is capable of blowing up any planet, and Etheria will make a fantastic demonstration of those who support the Rebellion,” he snarled.

“No! They’re a peaceful planet, you can’t do this!” Glimmer cried, trying to lunge out at him, only to be held back by She-Ra’s gloved hand. 

“I will spare this planet if you tell me where your rebel base is,” Hordak said with a sickening grin. Tears streamed down Glimmer’s face. 

“Plumeria. The base is on Plumeria.” Glimmer cried. Hordak patted her on the head. 

“Now was that so difficult, Princess Glimmer?” he chided. He turned to the deck officer. “Fire when ready, commander.” Glimmer’s eyes widened. 

“No!” she screamed. 

“Rebel scum like you need to be made an example of. We will show the Galaxy the power of my new weapon, and we will quench every spark of rebellion that even dares to rise!” Hordak shouted. The engineers flipped a few switches, pulled a few levers and pressed a few buttons. 

“Mom… Dad…” Glimmer cried. An engineer pulled a large red lever, and Etheria was blown to a million pieces. 

* * *

The Falcon was soaring through hyperspace. Scorpia, EM and Melog sat around a table watching a rerun of a show on the holodeck, while Catra sat cross legged, playing with her nails and watching Adora and Jade train. Their first exercise was a simple one, but one that Adora was struggling with a great deal. Adora could never sit still; it’s why being flying her T-16, zipping around tight corners and blasting small rodents was one of her favorite pastimes. The farming also helped exert some of that excess energy, as well as toning her abs and muscles, something that Catra pretended not to be staring at while she trained. The exercise was simple enough- block three bolts from the training remote with the lightsaber. Adora, naturally, missed all three more times than she’d like to admit, with Catra cackling at her in the background. She shot a glare at Catra, whose smug smile never dropped from her face. 

“Ugh! This is impossible,” Adora groaned. Jade stood from where she sat. 

“You are using your eyes, Adora. Reach out with your feelings. Trust in the force. Let it flow through you.” Jade said. Catra snorted again. 

“The force?” Catra said “Just blast ‘em. This force crap is pretty ridiculous.” Adora deflected two bolts as Catra finished her sentence. 

“I got this!” she yelled, proud of herself, as the training remote shot a third bolt that caught her square in the chest. Catra laughed again. 

“Like I said, a good blaster will do you good any day of the week.” Catra said, crossing her arms behind her head and leaning back. Adora sighed. 

“What, are you too cool to believe in the force?” Adora asked. 

“You think I’m cool? Thanks sweetheart,” Catra winked, causing Adora’s face to flush red. “Listen I’ve been ALL across the galaxy and I have not once seen some ‘mystical force’ controlling anything or anyone. I make my own destiny.” Jade sighed, looking at Catra. Grabbing a helmet with a blast shield down, obscuring the entire face, she passed it to Adora. 

“Try again, Adora. Let the force guide your actions.” Jade said. Adora put the helmet on. 

“Jade, I cannot see ANYTHING in this thing. What am I supposed to do?” she complained. 

“Calm, Adora. Feel the force surrounding you. Reach out with your feelings.” Adora closed her eyes, trying to follow Jade’s instructions. She relaxed her body, and tried to let the force flow through her, picturing the environment around her. This time when the floating remote fired, she was ready. She deflected all three bolts perfectly, and another three for good measure. She excitedly took off the helmet, met by a soft smile

from Jade. Adora grinned, turning to Catra, whose jaw had dropped. Adora blushed, one this time returned by Catra. 

“WOW Adora, great job!” Scorpia shouted, breaking the awkward tension. 

Regaining her composure, Catra muttered, “You got lucky.” Jade shook her head. 

“There is no such thing as luck.” Jade replied. 

“I’d like to see her against a squad of stormtroopers,” Catra said, causing Adora to flare up. Her anger, however, was immediately interrupted by a loud beeping noise. “We’re coming up on Etheria.” The crew walked back to the cockpit, sitting down and strapping themselves in. Catra cut the starlight engines and sat in her chair. The second they dropped out of hyperspace, they were pelted with small meteors and space debris. “Ack! an Asteroid field. We’re in the right position, there’s not supposed to be an asteroid field here!” 

“What about Etheria? Where is it?” Adora asked. 

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you sweetheart, it ain’t here. It’s gone. Poof. Blown away.” Catra replied. 

“The Empire. They are responsible for this.” Jade said. Catra raised an eyebrow at her. 

“That’s not possible lady, you have any idea how hard it’d be to blow up an ENTIRE planet? Even with a fleet of destroyers?” Catra asked. Before anyone could even fathom an answer, the falcon was hit with a couple of shots, the loud scream of an imperial tie fighter flying overhead. 

“How’d it chase us through hyperspace?” Adora asked.

“It did not,” Jade replied. “Those are short range. They do not have hyperspace functionality.” Adora mentally massaged her brain. 

“Maybe it was part of a group? Got separated maybe?” Adora asked. Catra shrugged. 

“He ain’t gonna be long enough to tell anyone about us that’s for sure,” Catra turned to Melog. “Jam their transmissions and prepare to shoot, he’s trying to get to that moon.” Jade glared at the moon, before replying. 

“That is not a moon,” she said. “That is a space station. We need to leave.”  _ A moon sized space station? Seems a bit unlikely _ , Adora thought to herself. The closer they got, however, the less the moon looked like a moon. 

“I… I think you’re right,” Catra stammered. She attempted turning the ship, but to no avail. Melog roared as the ship began to lurch back and forth. “Auxiliary power Melog! Quick!” 

“Why are we still moving TOWARDS the big scary space station?!” Adora cried. Catra glared. 

“Ain’t my idea  _ sweetheart _ , we’re caught in a tractor beam. They’re gonna pull us straight in.” Catra looked around, unsure of the options to take in this situation. Her blue and yellow eyes lit up. “I think I have an idea.” 

* * *

The Falcon, now secured in one of the many hangar bays of the giant space station, was being searched by Stormtroopers, but to no avail. They had no sign of anyone on board, and clambered out down the ramp. Catra, in all her genius, had decided to change the ship’s log, having it state that the escape pod had been recently fired- this was untrue, as the escape pod had been fired years ago and never had been replaced. Being a smuggler, Catra had some secret spots in the ship to hide spice or other goods- right underneath some of the solid floor paneling. She lifted up the panel, peeking around for any troopers still on board, before mentioning to the others that it was safe. Together, she and Adora helped Jade out from the floor, while Melog assisted the droids. 

“They should send a scanning crew up in a moment. That’s when we make our move,” Catra said to the group. The others nodded, and sure enough, 2 imperials dressed in gray officer’s uniforms walked aboard carrying a large crate with scanning equipment in it. Catra and Melog whacked them in the back of the head, knocking them out cold. Adora’s cheeks turned a bit red- a bit from nervousness, a bit from Catra being a total badass, which was, Adora had to admit, extremely hot, scoundrel or not. “Uh, a little help up here?” Catra called down the ramp, deepening her voice as much as possible. Adora snorted, putting her hand to her mouth. Two stormtroopers came up, immediately sharing a fate with the two inspection officers. 

“Now what?” Adora asked. Catra grinned, taking off one of the troopers helmets and tossing it to Adora. 

“We change,” Catra replied with a smile. Adora changed first, and after making sure the coast was clear, she and Melog darted over to the staircase across from the Falcon’s boarding ramp, up to where the officer station overlooking the hangar was. Catra was the second changed, and once she had the armor on, an officer’s voice immediately rang through the built in earpiece. The voice buzzed, asking why she wasn’t at her position. Catra walked down the boarding ramp, looking up to the officer and hitting a closed fist at the side of her helmet, trying to signal to the officer that her comm was down. He nodded, walking to the door to head downstairs, but the only thing waiting for him at the door was a disguised Adora and a very angry Melog, who blasted both officers present in the room before they had a chance to react. Scorpia stuck her head out the platform. 

“It uh, safe to come out now?” She asked. Catra rolled her eyes, hidden by the helmet, beckoning the rest of the group to follow. Catra, Jade and the droids shuffled up the stairs, meeting up with Adora and Melog. 

“Now what?” Adora asked. 

“Well, we ain’t going anywhere till we get that tractor beam offline, so I say we hit that. Have your astromech plug into this terminal,” Catra said gesturing towards the port by the computer. “She should be able to tell us where it is.” EM beeped, rolling over and plugging in. A series of beeps rapidly fired out of her, the group looking to Scorpia to translate. 

“So uh, the tractor beam controls are on multiple levels, but one isn’t too far from here! And EM says we only need to disable one for it to shut the whole thing down,” Scorpia said. Jade sighed. 

“Stay here. I will go shut them down,” Jade said calmly. Adora removed her helmet, walking up to Jade. 

“I’m going with,” she stated. Jade smiled, putting her hand on Adora’s shoulder. 

“No, child. You walk a different path from mine. Stay here and wait.” Adora pouted, but sat in one of the chairs by the computer. Jade turned and walked out the door, just in time for her to miss out on EM’s beeping. 

“Who hey! Adora, she’s here! Glimmer!” Scorpia shouted. Adora jumped to her feet; Catra sauntered over behind her. “Uh oh.” 

“We have to rescue her! Why uh oh?” Adora asked. 

“EM says she’s to be executed within the next couple hours.” Scorpia replies. 

“We have to rescue her!” Adora cried, looking at Catra and Melog. 

“Don’t look at me sweetheart. The old lady told us to stay here, and besides, I’m not getting paid for this.” Adora’s heart sank, and Melog growled something to Catra. “Hey don’t look at me like that,” Catra told the wookie, nudging them with her elbow. Adora’s heart sank, but immediately jumped back up, deciding to test the water. 

“She’s really pretty!” Adora said, trying to gauge Catra’s reaction. Catra smirked, looking Adora up and down before winking. 

“So? Doesn’t mean I wanna die for her. You’re-“ Catra’s confidence faltered for a moment, looking away, and Adora could have sworn she saw red on the woman’s cheeks. Catra turned back to Adora, the blush vanishing from her face. “I’ve got enough problems already okay?” Adora pouted, her eyes meeting Catra’s and pleading. 

“Pleeease Catra? For me? And she’s a Princess! I’m sure you’ll get reward money from her too if that’s what you want!” Adora begged, taking Catra’s hand in her own. Adora’s stomach churned a bit, the butterflies returning, her face feeling hot. Catra sighed. 

“Fine. Only because she’s gonna pay me, and she better. This is NOT because I like you, by the way,” Catra said. Adora beamed at her. “So, you got a plan for this daring rescue?” Adora thought for a moment, then glanced at Melog and smiled. 

“I think I do.”

* * *

Melog grumbled to Catra constantly the entire way up to the detention block. Adora’s idea was to put the red-furred Wookie in binders, in order to trick the guards into letting them in. While they weren’t even locked, Melog was not a fan of the idea period. Catra pet Melog’s fur sympathetically, and they grumbled in response. They finally reached their floor, and the elevator stopped, opening to reveal a dimly lit room, with a control panel in the middle and a long corridor only lit by a sinister red light from underneath the grated floor. A bucket helmeted guard stepped up to greet them. He looked Melog up and down. 

“What’s your business here?” The guard inquired, tone stern. 

“Prisoner transfer,” The disguised Catra said in a deep voice. Adora rolled her eyes at the very goofy voice, as it was modulated through the helmet as well, making her even harder to take seriously. The guard didn’t seem impressed. 

“I’ll have to clear it, but for now, come with me,” he ordered the Wookie. As soon as he laid a hand on Melog’s arm, the trap was sprung- Melog backhanded the guard and whipped off the binders in a single stroke, sending him careening into the middle console, completely unconscious. Adora and Catra engaged the remaining four guards while Melog picked up the fallen guard’s blaster pistol. Two guards were dropped instantly by Adora and Catra’s shots as they unholstered their pistols. The remaining guards drew their weapons, and Catra ducked under a shot that narrowly missed her head, extending her arm and blasting a guard square in the chest. Adora shot the two cameras stationed above the center console, while Melog dispatched the final guard. The small room was clouded with smoke. Melog roared. Catra walked over to the middle console, which had started beeping- a transmission from the control center. 

“Hey uh, Catra?” Adora said as Catra reached out to answer the transmission. Catra raised her eyebrow. 

“Huh?” Adora put her fingers together. 

“Maybe uhh.. don’t do the deep voice? Not that it’s bad or anything just kinda.. obvious?” Adora asked sheepishly. Catra rolled her eyes. 

“Ugh, whatever,” she said. “This one says your princess is in cell 38, go get her.” Catra finally pressed the button to answer as Adora jogged down the hallway, opening the door to cell 38. A tinny voice buzzed through the comm. 

“What’s going on up there? We lost visual.” The voice stated. 

“Uhh everything’s finee, just a slight weapons malfunction.” Catra said, panicking a bit. Adora walked into the cell as Catra hammed it up with the guard, catching a look from the princess, who had just woken up. The princess snorted. 

“That armor looks ridiculous on you,” Glimmer said, looking Adora up and down. Adora couldn’t help but flush. 

“Hey it’s not even- oh wait,” she started, taking off her helmet. “I’m Adora Hope! I’m here to rescue you, your highness.” She offered a hand out to Glimmer, who reached out and took it, standing up, following Adora out of the cell. Before any more words could be exchanged, the pair spotted Catra blast the center panel. 

“Boring conversation anyway,” she muttered, before turning to call out to Adora. “Adora! We’re gonna have company!” Catra and Melog ran down the hall towards the pair, taking cover in the door frames of the cells; Adora and Glimmer followed suit. Catra and Adora locked eyes as the elevator door was blasted open.


	4. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> almost done folks bear with me

Stormtroopers piled out of the crumbling elevator door frame, with Catra, Adora and Melog gunning them down as they did. Blaster bolts whizzed past their heads, the cramped corridor not making their life any easier. No matter how many troopers were taken down, more seemed to replace them. Catra looked to Adora.

“I dunno how long we can hold em for sweetheart,” she said. Glimmer looked back and forth between the pair. 

“This is some rescue,” she said, rolling her eyes as a red laser blast flew just a few centimeters from her nose. Catra’s face went red, flushing in a mixture of anger and annoyance at the comment. 

“She’s the brains, sparkles,” Catra shouted over the blaster fire. “If you don’t like it you can wait back in your cell!” Glimmer fumed, grabbing Adora’s blaster from her hands as she opened her mouth to retort. She turned, blasting the metal plate covering the garbage disposal that sat next to Catra. 

“Hey, what the hell!?” Catra shouted, returning a few blaster bolts down the hall to a stormtrooper who’d finally managed to walk up stairs to their hallways, only to be met with the consolation prize of a blaster bolt to the face. He dropped, falling back down the stairs and tripping another stormtrooper. Glimmer tossed Adora her blaster back. 

“I’m saving our skins, now get into the garbage chute flygirl!” Glimmer said, using her arms to lower herself into the open hole she’d created, sliding down. Melog was next, and they roared in complaint to Catra. 

“I don’t CARE how bad it smells Melog, get in there!” She shouted as Adora squeezed off a few more shots down the hallway; at this point, the bottleneck that was the elevator door was completely gone, and about fifteen to twenty stormtroopers were in the control room. Catra used the side of her shin to nudge Melog down the chute, and she turned to Adora, gesturing for her to go next. Adora groaned. 

“This is gonna smell awful,” Adora whined, taking two steps across the hall and jumping feet first into the chute. Catra sighed, and in one last motion, stood in the middle of the hall for a split second, blasting one more stormtrooper before diving face first into what could be a smelly end to her career in smuggling. 

* * *

Scorpia and EM sat in the officer station. The two had made some small talk about their insane situation, but to the pair of droids, it still felt like a day had passed since Adora left with Catra and Melog. EM let out some annoyed beeps as she rolled over and plugged back into the terminal, reading the space stations’ floor plans in order to assist the group’s escape. She noticed that the tractor beam control had gone down- a sign that Jade did her job as intended. 

“You said it EM,” Scorpia said. “I really hope they’re alright though! No news is good news right?” If EM could frown, she would have. She beeped at Scorpia, informing her that in this situation, that was very much NOT the proper analogy. “Oh, right. I guess that makes sense.” The pair of droids jumped a bit when a loud knock echoed against the door. 

“Open up in there,” the tinny voice of a stormtrooper caked out. Scorpia looked at EM, who quietly beeped to her. 

“Don’t worry, I have an idea!” Scorpia beeped back. The door hissed, sliding open to reveal a squadron of stormtroopers ready to fire. Luckily, before the trio had left, Melog and Catra had dragged the officers bodies into a storage bay that lined the wall, leaving no room for suspicion from the troops. Scorpia raised her arms in surrender. 

“Hey guys!” she chirped. “I’m so glad you’re all here! Those intruders, they were real scary. They went up to the detention level, you might be able to catch them!” The stormtroopers looked at each other. 

“Alright. Let's go men, follow me,” one of the stormtroopers said, leading the squad out of the room and presumably towards the detention level. One of them left to stand guard, but Scorpia had an idea to get past him as well. Beckoning to EM, she walked towards the door where he stood guard.

“Hey, uh, sir, can I take my astromech partner down to maintenance? I think one of those invaders might’ve damaged her a bit,” she asked. The stormtrooper nodded in response. “Thank you!” she said cheerily, and the pair exited the station and headed down the ramp to the hangar where the falcon was being held. EM beeped to Scorpia, impressed that she pulled off what she did. If Scorpia could blush with pride, she would. 

“Aw shucks EM, it was really nothing!” Scorpia said. EM beeped to Scorpia cheerfully. 

“I wonder what’s going on with Adora.”

* * *

She-ra stormed around the halls angrily. She’d received word that a small group of intruders, _rebels_ , had broken out the princess, and Moff Hordak was not pleased. To complicate matters even further, she could feel something off in the force around her. Something familiar, yet dangerous and something that angered her. She couldn’t place exactly what the disturbance was, but the familiarity of it seemed to creep further into her mind with each passing moment until it finally dawned on her. _Jade_ , she thought to herself. _It has to be her._ Her thoughts were interrupted as Moff Hordak walked towards her.

“Lord She-ra,” Hordak began. She-ra raised her hand, silencing him; Hordak’s red eyes seethed with rage at this, but he did not speak another word. 

“She’s here,” She-ra said. “My old mentor, my- old friend.” At this, Hordak’s rage seemed to subside, replaced with confusion. 

“Surely she must be dead by now,” Hordak said. “The jedi are extinct. They have been for a long time. You, Lord She-ra, are the last of their pathetic religion.” 

“Do not be fool enough to underestimate her,” She-ra said. “The force is strong with her.” Hordak’s eyes narrowed, and his wrist communicator beeped. He rolled up his sleeve, accepting the transmission. A tinny stormtrooper voice emitted from his wrist. 

“Sir, there’s been a breach on detention level 05-15. The Princess escaped.” the voice said. Hordak snarled. 

“Alert all troops on the station. If you see them, kill them.” Hordak snarled through gritted teeth.

“Yes sir.” The transmission ended, and Hordak turned his full attention back to She-ra.

“Jade is here,” She-ra said. “The force is with her. I can feel it.”

“If she IS here,” Hordak growled, “He must never be allowed to leave this station.” 

“She is not planning on escaping, I can feel it,” She-ra said. “I will face her on my own.” She turned on her heel, her capes billowing behind her as she walked back to where the Millennium Falcon sat in the hangar bay. 

* * *

As expected, the garbage disposal area smelled fairly awful- it was a garbage disposal after all. The worst part of it all was the murky water in which the garbage floated in- it REEKED, and Catra was despising every second of standing in it. There was a door leading to the outside, back into the main hallways- a locked door, but a door nonetheless. Melog roared, banging on the door. 

“Ugh, this was a terrible idea Sparkles” Catra groaned, “Let’s get out of here.” She took her blaster rifle and aimed it at the door. 

“Wait!” Glimmer cried out, but it was too late. Catra popped off a shot at the door, which reflected and bounced off each wall and the ceiling multiple times, causing the group to duck and weave out of its path. Once the bolt had fizzled out, Glimmer spun on Catra, eyes narrowed. “Put that thing away, you’re gonna get us all killed!”

“Listen Princess, I had it all under control until YOU led us down here!” Catra shouted. “They’re gonna figure out where we went sooner or later!” Adora normally would have stepped in to mediate- however, the long, slimy feeling whatever it was brushing along her leg didn’t exactly allow her to focus on the petty bickering going on. 

“Uhh, guys?” Adora stammered. “There’s something alive in here with us.” Catra and Glimmer stopped arguing, looking around the room and in the water for any sign of Adora’s claim. 

“Sweetheart you’re imagining it, nothin in here but us.” Catra replied- though she didn’t sound entirely sure herself. Out of the corner of her eye, Adora spotted what she assumed was what brushed her leg before; a long, slimy tentacle. 

“Look!” She cried. “There! Did you see that!?” The tentacle slid back under the murky water, leaving the Catra and Glimmer looking around the water, scanning the debris for any sign of life. Melog didn’t even turn- they just banged on the door harder, hoping to somehow bust out and escape. When the panic subsided a bit, everything went quiet for a moment. No one made a sound, and Glimmer, Catra and Adora silently exchanged looks with one another. 

“Uh..” Adora began to say something, when she was suddenly dragged under the water, her blaster falling from her hands and landing on a small pile of floating debris. Glimmer bent down and grabbed the blaster, while Catra looked around for any sign of Adora. 

“Adora!” Catra cried, her mismatched eyes combing every square inch of murky disgusting water. Glimmer also called out for Adora, and Melog let out a mighty roar. The water however, was settled, with no Adora to be found. The pair began to wade through the water, sifting it with their legs; Glimmer’s beautiful dress had a new ring of brown grime around the bottom. The trio jumped in surprise as a loud, metallic, groaning sound rang throughout the garbage disposal. 

“Oh, that CAN’T be good,” Catra said. As if on cue, Adora blasted out of the water, landing in between Glimmer and Catra who helped her stand. 

“You okay?” Glimmer asked. Adora only nodded in response, while Catra blasted the water a few times for good measure. “What even WAS that thing?” Adora opened her mouth to answer, but was abruptly cut off when the metallic groaning noise returned, and much louder this time. Melog whimpered, and Catra patted them on the shoulder in comfort. 

“You said it Melog,” Catra huffed. The walls groaned some more, and slowly began to close in. 

“Uhhh..” Adora trailed off. She facepalmed as the idea came to her, ashamed it hadn’t come before. Raising the commlink from her belt to her mouth, she shouted, “Scorpia! Come in Scorpia!” 

No response. The large steel walls were getting even closer. 

“Scorpia, come on where are you?” Adora looked behind her, seeing that Catra and Glimmer had teamed up, holding a large metal rod horizontally to brace against the closing walls. For a moment, it seemed like it was working, until it began to bend in an arc upwards. Glimmer shrieked. 

“Scorpia PLEASE!” Adora cried. 

“ _Oh! Sorry. Forgot how to work this thing for a second,_ ” Scorpia’s static laced voice said through the little comm. “ _How are you?_ ”

“Dying!” Catra screamed, as the bar they were holding completely snapped. The walls were getting dangerously close. 

“Scorpia! Shut off all the garbage compactors on the detention level!” Adora cried. No response returned from Scorpia- Adora repeated herself. Melog slammed their fists on the doors, crying out. The walls were near closed now- the four of them were beginning to get squeezed, and Adora and Catra’s stolen armor began to crack. 

“Scorpia!” Adora screamed. The walls stopped; any further, and the four of them would have been completely flattened. The walls retracted, slowly returning to their original position, with the door sliding open. The group cheered, pulling each other into a smelly embrace. 

“ _Oh no! I failed. They’re dying EM! Listen to them!_ ” Scorpia’s voice said over the commlink. Adora must have forgotten to turn it off. 

“No, you did GREAT Scorpia! We’re okay!” Adora cheered. 

“ _Phew, thank the maker!_ ” Scorpia replied. Adora smiled. 

“Meet us back at the Falcon,” she said. “Stay safe, and don’t get caught.” The group clambered out of the garbage chute, relieved for the break from all the chaos. Catra and Adora changed out of their stormtrooper armor back to their original outfits, and Glimmer tried (and failed) to wring out the murky brown that stained her beautiful dress. Melog simply shook out their legs where the water had touched- being a seven foot tall wookie, they didn’t get the worst of it. 

They all reeked, especially Adora, who’d been completely encapsulated in the water, and the sooner they could clean off the better. Whatever creature had grabbed Adora earlier poked its ugly eye out of the water, making a strange guttural noise, which the group could hear quite well through the open door. Melog ran behind a set of crates in the hallway, causing Catra to roll her eyes. 

“Come on you big dork,” she said pointing her blaster to the open door. 

“Catra wait, they’ll hear!” Glimmer shouted a bit too late- Catra blasted the inside of the garbage disposal. 

“See?” Catra said to Melog, ignoring Glimmer’s outcry. “Nothin to be afraid of.”

“I don’t know WHO you are or where you get your delusions from,” Glimmer said, “but from now on, you do as I say.” Catra’s eyes widened before immediately narrowing. Glimmer turned and shoved Melog out of the way, who in turn followed her. Catra opened her mouth to shout at Glimmer when she felt a hand on her shoulder- Adora’s hand. Immediately, a wave of calm that Catra wouldn’t be able to explain even if she tried washed over her. Adora and her locked eyes, for a moment, and seeing Adora’s smile, Catra sighed and gave her a smile in return. 

“Thank you,” Adora said. Catra nodded, and the pair turned and followed Glimmer and Melog down the hall, heading back to the Falcon. 

* * *

Stormtroopers were on full alert, which was both a blessing and a curse for Jade- she was able to sneak out of the tractor beam control center far easier than she might have been able to otherwise, seeing as they were mostly headed towards the Falcon and the detention areas, which was part of the problem: the Falcon, her destination. 

Luckily enough, call it the will of the force, that Jade’s path seemingly happened to clear up every time she needed to make a move, narrowly avoiding squads of stormtroopers. Her path, her path to the Falcon, her path which was unclear to her at this very moment, as she felt a tremor in the force. A pit began to form in the Jedi Master’s stomach, as she knew exactly what it was. 

She knew where her path would lead. She knew the radiant, yet dark presence that lurked on her physical path to the hangar bay, and she was ready to face it. As she reached the final set of blast doors that would slide open to reveal the hall leading straight to the hangar bay, Jade unclipped her lightsaber from the belt she wore around her tunic and closed her eyes, exhaling. She knew what was on the other side of that door, or more aptly, WHO was on the other side of that door. 

The blast door slid open, and with it the sinister sound of the red lightsaber that had silenced hundreds igniting pierced the air. She-ra. She stepped towards the Jedi. Jade sighed, utterly heartbroken at who stood before her, raising her own lightsaber and igniting it. 

“I’ve been waiting for you,” She-ra spat. “We meet again at last.” Jade smiled sadly at the monster in front of her, the one who’d killed so many, the one she’d once loved. “My powers have doubled since the last time we met Jade.”

She-ra swung the crimson lightsaber, and Jade parried, thus beginning the duel. She-ra swing furiously at Jade, who adeptly partied every blow before throwing a few of her own back in. She-ra was definitely faster and stronger, cybernetics that Jade’s last duel had left her with enhancing her strength and speed. This was not a duel Jade could win- and they both knew it. 

“You cannot win, She-ra,” Jade said. “If I am to fall here, I will only become more powerful than you could possibly imagine. She-ra laughed at this, missing a swing as Jade ducked, cutting a deep gash into the steel wall behind her. 

“More powerful?” She-ra sneered, “When I kill you, I will have finally exterminated the plague of the jedi from the galaxy.” She-ra lunged again, backing Jade towards the door to the hangar bay, which slowly began to slide open. The sabers crackled as they met over and over again, each warrior refusing to back down. The commotion caused the stormtroopers in the hangar to leave their post by the Falcon and rush to She-ra’s aid. 

The troopers took aim, and remained steady, their blasters trained on Jade as she fought for her life. Behind them, however, they completely missed the rest of the intruders- Scorpia and EM, finally leaving the small terminal they’d sat at for so long, shuffled to the Falcon behind the troops, with Adora, Catra, Melog and Glimmer emerging from a door across from the Falcon’s loading ramp at the same time. Melog followed the droids on board, while Catra and Glimmer waited at the ramp as Adora faltered, seeing what the stormtroopers were so focused on. 

“Jade?” Adora said, thinking out loud. She-ra and Jade stood feet apart, their duel paused for a moment. Jade turned, making eye contact with Adora, giving her a soft smile, raising her lightsaber in front of her with her eyes closed; and She-ra struck. This time, Jade did not block. The red lightsaber passed through Jade’s torso, and her body vanished, leaving her robes and lightsaber to fall to the floor. 

“No!” Adora cried, raising her blaster and opening fire; Catra did the same. The stormtroopers turned as two of them dropped dead to Adora and Catra’s fire, and they shot right back. Behind them, Adora could see She-ra’s confusion as she used her foot to inspect the robes, looking for some sort of trick. She found none. She-ra bent down, picking up Jade’s lightsaber, and she turned towards the hangar bay. 

“Adora! the door!” Catra said, blasting another stormtrooper. “Blast the door!” Catra grabbed glimmer by the arm, squeezing off a final shot to drop a stormtrooper and dragging Glimmer up the ramp. Adora squinted, focusing her aim on the door, and with the single pull of the trigger, blasted the panel wide open. The door slid shut just as She-Ra reached it. Adora fired a few more shots before running up the platform and raising it behind her. The Falcon began to rumble as the engines kicked up, and they were off. The Falcon lifted up, doing a full 180 degree turn, and flying out of the hangar. 

Adora ran to the cockpit, past the pair of droids to meet Catra, Melog and Glimmer, all seated and waiting for her arrival. Glimmer noticed the pained expression on Adora’s face, and offered her a sad smile and placed her hand on Adora’s shoulder. 

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Adora sobbed. Catra spun around in her chair to face Adora, reaching her hand out and placing it on Adora’s. Adora’s face turned red underneath the tears, and they locked eyes. 

“Hey, I’m sorry.” Catra said to Adora. Adora allowed herself to smile weakly. Unfortunately, the moment wouldn’t last long. The scanner let out a high pitched beep, causing Catra to spin around in her seat. Adora didn’t even have to ask what the commotion was- the Falcon rocked, and the scream of the tie fighter was audible before it was in view of the Falcon’s viewport. 

“Well, we aren’t out of this yet. Melog, prep the jump to lightspeed,” Catra commanded, standing up from her chair, beckoning Adora to follow her. Glimmer hopped into Catra’s seat. 

Adora followed her to a ladder towards the middle of the ship, and Catra gestures to climb down the ladder. The ladder led to another seat, with a viewport directly below it- looking up, Adora could see that Catra’s matching chair had a viewport above it. 

Adora strapped herself into the seat, taking the controls in front of her in her hands, knowing immediately what to do. The targeting senor flicked on, showing a yellow grid laying over a red screen. In the middle of the grid there was a circle with triangles pointing inward towards the center of it at four different sides; this, Adora gathered, was the reticle she’d be using. Small chevrons appeared on the grid- the tie fighters. Adora swivelled her gun, the chair moving with, firing at the ties.

“Woo!” Catra cried from above- she’d hit her mark, sending a tie fighter spiraling into the depths of space before exploding. Adora furrowed her brow, concentrating. The blasts coming from the lasers below her were deafening. One of the small targets finally lined up with her targeting reticle, and she blasted it. The tie disappeared from the scope as it went up in ash and smoke. 

“I got one!!” Adora exclaimed, looking up to Catra with a sparkle in her eyes. Catra looked down to her and winked. 

“Great sweetheart, don’t get cocky!” Catra shouted back. Adora blushed at the nickname, which at first she wasn’t sure if it was flirty or sarcastic; regardless, now it was endearing, and it caused the butterflies to swarm again in her stomach. She shook her head, snapping out of the trance and returned to firing. 

Catra blasted another tie, leaving one left on the scope. Adora _had_ to get the last one, she couldn’t let Catra get three and her just one. The tie flew in an arc under the falcon, coming straight towards her gun. Adora looked straight out the viewport, past the targeting computer, and angled her gun. She didn’t miss, firing straight into the tie’s viewport, shattering it and sending the fighter up in fire and smoke. 

Adora sighed, letting her hands fall to her sides. She looked up, watching Catra grab the sides of the ladder rail, sliding down to the floor, meeting her own gaze with a grin. Adora climbed up to meet her and was pulled into an embrace, which she returned with a big smile. Catra kept her arm around Adora as they walked back into the cockpit to see Glimmer hugging Melog, the big wookie happily returning the embrace. 

The pair turned to Catra and Adora, only for Glimmer to receive a smirk from Catra and a nudge to get out of the chair. Glimmer rolled her eyes, standing up, Catra taking her place. 

“You give Melog the coordinates to your base, Princess Sparkles?” Catra asked. Glimmer nodded, and Melog roared in agreement. Catra grinned, pulling the lever in the central console, and the Falcon jumped to hyperspace. 

* * *

She-ra stood in the central command center as the Falcon broke into hyperspace, disappearing from the station's scopes. Hordak snarled as he walked up to her. 

“Are you sure that the homing beacon on their ship will work? It is an awful risk to let them go like this,” he growled. She-ra folded her arms. 

“I am sure. The beacon will signal once they arrive. Prepare the jump to lightspeed.”

Hordak nodded, a sickening smile spreading across his face. The rebellion would finally be crushed for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmk if u like it or hate it yeah?


	5. Heroes of the Rebellion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Space battles are really hard to write

The Falcon made it back to the rebel base at the Moon of Despondos relatively safely, completely unaware of the homing beacon nested on board. As the group unboarded, they were quickly ushered inside a large, tan pyramid type structure of some kind, which was operating as the main rebel base for the time being. Adora felt cold as she walked through the base, the energy around her felt dark for some reason. She shrugged it off, assuming it was her imagination. The rebels had taken Glimmer, Scorpia and EM ahead to the briefing room, with Catra, Melog and Adora to find their own way over. The inside of the temple was large, sprawling and beautiful, the consoles and small computer stations mixed with pretty green grass slithering up from cracks in the ground. 

Eventually, they reached the briefing room, where Glimmer stood by a large monitor with Scorpia, EM and a short, purple haired woman who wore her wild long hair in two ponytails, almost reaching the floor. Catra hung out in the back with Melog, leaving Adora to scramble and find a seat next to a rebel in a pilot jumpsuit. Once Adora sat, Glimmer cleared her throat, gathering all of the pilot's attention to begin the briefing. 

The short, purple haired lady, Entrapta, as Adora was informed, took the lead, speaking in a nasally voice. “This battle station, The Fright Zone, is veery heavily shielded, and based on the information stored in this very cute astromech,” (EM beeped cheerily at the compliment, receiving a pat on the head from Entrapta) “It’s mostly guarded from large scale assaults! A small fighter would be able to get through its defenses no problem!” 

The pilots all looked at each other, confused and nervous before one of them spoke up. “What good are small fighters against a station that massive?” he asked. 

Entrapta’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the question. “The plans Princess Glimmer provided us revealed a weakness, one well placed missile and boom! No more space station. Ooooh i can’t wait to study youu!” Entrapa squealed, rubbing EM’s dome excitedly. 

The entire audience was quietly staring at Entrapta for a moment before she read the room. She cleared her throat. “Anyways,” she began, scrolling the 3d model of the space station’s plans to explain her plan. “It’s gonna be very difficult. You will have to fly through this trench and sink a missile down the two meter diameter exhaust port. The trench has tons of turrets guarding it, so you’ll have to be careful.”

The room shifted, uncomfortable conversations picking up between pilots. Even Catra had a skeptical look painted across her face. Another pilot spoke up. “Isn’t that exhaust port too tiny? We’d never be able to make that shot, it’d be impossible.” 

This time, Adora cut in. “It’s not impossible! I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home, and they’re just as small.”

A group of rebel officers shuffled into the room before any further conversation could be had. “General Entrapta, Princess Glimmer, we found a beacon on the Falcon, and we’re detecting a massive object emerging from hyperspace.” 

“They’re here,” Glimmer said. “Pilots, to your ships. May the force be with you.”

Catra and Adora were ushered to the locker room to get changed into orange pilot jumpsuits that were standard issue for rebel pilots, as they were the only ones not wearing them yet. Adora immediately began to strip and change before realizing Catra was still in the room with her, and the two made eye contact for a moment, both of their faces maddeningly red, before Catra smirked and spun on her heel, walking towards the door. 

“I’ll be by the Falcon if you need me, sweetheart,” Catra said, sauntering out and closing the door, leaving a very confused and flustered Adora to herself to finish changing. Adora zipped up her flight suit and jogged over to the staging area. 

* * *

Adora found Catra right where she said she’d be- the Falcon, and she was loading up the crates that contained her payment for her heroic rescue of the Princess. Adora frowned. 

“Catra,” she said, gaining the woman’s attention. “You got your reward and you’re just gonna leave?” Catra grunted. 

“Yeah, I’ve got some debts I gotta pay off,” She paused taking Adora’s hand. “Why don’t you come with us? You’re good in a fight. We could use you on the Falcon.”

“Catra, look around you. All these people, you know what they’re up against, what WE are up against. You’re a great pilot. They need you,” Adora replied softly, putting her other hand over Catra’s. “ _I_ need you.” Catra’s eyes met Adora’s, and Adora could see the doubt welling in those mismatched eyes before Catra closed them, letting her hand slip away. 

“No you don’t,” she smiled, turning around and making her way up the ramp to the Falcon. “You never have.” Adora’s heart broke a bit, her eyes falling to her feet. She thought that after all they’d been through in the short time they’d known each other, that maybe, just maybe Catra would join the Rebellion with her. Watching her walk away shouldn’t hurt as much as it did. 

“Adora?” She looked back up to Catra, who’d turned back to her with a smirk- not her usual smirk, but one etched with a bit of sadness. “May the force be with you.” And with that, Catra boarded the Falcon. 

* * *

Adora met Glimmer in front of the X-Wing she was to pilot, and Glimmer immediately knew something was off, despite the forced, cheery grin Adora presented. 

“What’s wrong?” Glimmer asked. 

“Catra..” Adora said. “I really thought after everything, she’d stay.” 

“She has to choose her own path,” Glimmer said, smiling at Adora. 

“I wish Jade was here,” Adora sighed. Glimmer placed her hand on Adora’s shoulder, pulling her in for a kiss on the cheek. She gave Adora a little shake, one last smile, and she walked off towards the command center. 

_All pilots, prepare for launch_ , the loudspeaker blared. Adora turned to climb the yellow ladder up to the cockpit of the X-Wing, where a technician helped lower EM-LE into the maintenance hatch. 

“You alright EM?” Adora asked. EM beeped happily in response as Adora strapped off her helmet, the technician climbing down the ladder to remove it. Adora looked around. The hangar was vast, pilots strapping on helmets, maintenance workers fueling up the X-Wings and Y-Wings. There was a large space where the Falcon had sat, nothing coming to take its place. Adora sighed at the thought, as she was finally cleared for launch, following the pilot in front of her as they flew towards space. 

* * *

Adora wasn’t entirely used to flying in space- it was a bit different from the Tatooine atmosphere in which she flew before, but not by enough where it’d negatively impact her flying skills. _I got this, I got this_ , she thought to herself repeatedly. Adora’s squad leader, a pilot named Dutch, requested a role call- Adora’s pilot designation was Red Five. One by one, the squad members radioed in their designation. 

“ _Red Three, standing by._ ”

“ _Red Four, standing by._ ”

“Red Five, standing by.” Adora said. Each squad was divided into Nine units, so each pilot had two wingmen. Adora’s wingmen were Red Four and Red Six, named Adam and Duncan. The rebel fleet was relatively small, at least by the standards of the enormous battle station, consisting of about ninety pilots, ten squadrons. The station had come out of hyperspace on the opposite side of the planet Despondos, and it’s hulking, massive size made it move very slowly around the planet, giving the rebellion a good half an hour before the moon was in range. 

“ _Form up_ ,” Dutch commanded. “ _Set S-Foils into attack position_.” Adora flipped a switch on the console in front of her, and the wings separated. The space station was getting closer and closer, and if Adora was being honest, it was absolutely terrifying. Tons of small dots seemed to be emerging from the massive station, causing Adora to squint to make out what they were- tie fighters. 

“ _Enemy tie fighters, take evasive action,_ ” Red two shouted out. The screams of the tie fighters grew louder before a hail of emerald green laser fire erupted from their cannons, causing the rebel forces to scatter and dodge. Adora rolled her fighter left, narrowly missing a tie fighter coming straight at her. 

“ _I can’t shake this tie!_ ” Adam cried out. Adora checked her scanners, locating Adam and veering around to help. Spotting a tie narrowly missing an X-Wing, she changed course and opened fire on the tie, sending it spiraling away before combusting into a bright orange ball of flames. “ _Thanks Red Five!_ ” 

Adora smiled, proud of herself. The space battle raged around them, as the Rebel fighters slowly made their way closer to the trench of the station they had to run. The tie fighters were many, but the X-Wings and Y-Wings, as rustic as they looked, were equipped with deflector shields, a luxury that the tie fighters were not. Adora watched a Y-Wing’s gunner take down a tie fighter chasing it, and a couple of X-Wings taking out a small squadron with ease, but it wasn’t enough. Even when the ranks of the tie fighters were thinned, Adora’s heads up display indicated that they’d lost 32 rebel fighters in the first dogfight, and they’d just reached the area where they could begin their trench run. 

First up was a Y-Wing squadron from Gold team, with Red team gearing up for one of their own. 

“ _This is Gold leader, I’m starting my attack run.”_

The space battle had seemed endless- Adora shot down tie after tie, and when they eventually stopped coming they had surface turrets to deal with. Adora checked the heads up display- 27 friendly craft left. _How did it get so bad_ , she thought to herself. 

“ _The turrets! They’ve stopped firing!_ ” Gold leader said through the comm. Adora frowned, spotting a small squadron of ties entering the trenches. 

“Gold leader! Watch behind you, tie fighters!”

“ _Copy Red Five_.” 

The tie fighter pursuing Gold Leader was different- a tighter, more compact design, with wings shorter in height but longer in length, flanked by two wingmen in standard tie fighters- it was She-ra in her tie advanced. Quickly, before any of the Y-Wings could make it even close to the exhaust port, She-ra mercilessly gunned all three of them down, before leaving the trench and vanishing into the dark of space.

Adora tried to move to chase them, but another squadron of ties emerged, intercepting Red team and the remainder of the rebel forces. Adora’s X-Wing took a shot to one of the engines, causing it to begin smoking. 

“I’m hit, someone get this guy offa me!” Adora cried. “EM, see if you can fix that.” EM beeped and got to work. 

“ _Copy,_ ” Duncan replied. An X-Wing flew straight past Adora’s, blasting away the tie that was tailing her. 

“Thanks Duncan,” Adora sighed. The smoke cleared, and Adora’s engine was good to go thanks to EM’s assistance. By the time the attacking ties were dispelled, there were only 7 rebel craft left- the rest of Gold Team had been killed in the dogfight. 

“ _This is red leader, going in for my attack run._ ” Adora, Duncan and Adam all watched as Dutch and his two wingmen entered the trench, the surface turrets preventing them from getting too close. 

_Trust in the Force, Adora,_ Jade’s voice echoed in Adora’s head. Adora frowned, smacking the side of her helmet. 

“Just nerves, Adora,” she said to herself. 

“ _I can’t hold them much longer!_ ” Dutch’s remaining wingman shouted through the comms. Adora noted another ship disappearing off her radar- he was dead. 

“ _Missiles away!_ ” Dutch cheered. The space station rocked back and forth, but did not explode. “ _Negative, no hit. Just impacted on the surface. Red Five, start your attack run._ ”

Adora looked out of her cockpit, spotting the special tie fighter behind Dutch. “Dutch, swing towards us, we’ll cover you!”

“ _Negative, just lost my starboard engine. Take out this station._ ” She-ra blasted Dutch’s other engines, sending his X-Wing spiraling towards the surface of the space station. Adora watched in horror as he screamed, his fighter exploding as it smashed into the surface. 

* * *

Stormtroopers tumbled over each other all throughout the station, small explosions rupturing pipes sending steam throughout the hallways for a couple moments before the tremors stopped. A frantic officer stumbled over to Grand Moff Hordak. 

“Sir, we’ve analyzed the rebels attack plan and there IS a weakness. Should we prepare your ship?” Hordak scoffed. 

“Retreat? In our hour of victory? I think you overestimate their chances.” Hordak laughed. 

“Rebel base 3 minutes and closing, sir,” an officer said, turning to Hordak. Hordak only returned a sickening grin. 

* * *

Adora, Adam and Duncan entered the trench at top speed, bobbing and weaving as the turrets rained fire on them. The three of them kept looking around outside their cockpits, knowing that any moment, the small squad of tie fighters would be back. Leading the trio, Adora flipped down her targeting computer, watching the distance rapidly decrease to her target. 

The turrets stopped firing, and their deafening silence only meant one thing. The trio of tie fighters led by She-ra descended into the trench, closing in on the X-Wings fast. 

“ _Better make this quick Adora, I dunno how long we can hold them._ ” Duncan’s voice came over the comm. 

“I got this,” Adora said before muttering, “I think.” The tie advanced opened fire, tearing through Adam’s shields and bursting one of his engines. 

“ _I’m hit!_ ” 

“Get clear Adam, there’s not much more you can do here.” Adora commanded. 

“ _Sorry boss!_ ” Adam pitched up and flew out of the trench, but the tie fighters did not follow, instead increased their speed. 

“EM, see if you can boost the engine power, we gotta shake these guys fast.” EM beeped an affirmative. 

“ _Adora, hurry, they’re coming in much faster this time, I can’t hold them._ ” Duncan said. EM pulled off the power boost, and the X-Wing rocketed forward even faster. Adora glanced at her computer- she was almost at the finish line. 

“ _Wait,_ ” Duncan cried. “ _Wait!_ ” She-ra’s tie advanced let loose a barrage of emerald green laserfire, ripping through Duncan’s shield and piercing his ship’s hull, sending it up in flames as it crashed to the bottom of the trench. Adora’s heart sank. She was alone. 

She began to adjust the targeting computer, twisting a knob on the top to zero it in as she approached the target. 

_Adora, use the force_ Jade’s voice sounded in her head. _Let go._ Adora frowned. At that moment, she knew what to do. She flipped off her targeting computer, exhaling, visualizing the exhaust port she was approaching, reaching out with the force. 

“ _Adora, you switched off your targeting computer. What’s wrong?_ ” a rebel commander’s voice who was back at base came through the comm. 

“Nothing, I’m okay,” Adora said. The scream of the approaching tie fighters was as loud as can be. She-ra opened fire, scoring a direct hit on EM, who screamed before falling silent. “No! I lost EM!” Adora cried. _Focus, Adora._

“ _The Fright Zone has cleared the planet._ ” the rebel officer’s voice came through everyone’s comm. 

“Now or never Adora.” Adora said to herself. She reached out with the force again, she was so close to the port she could feel it. She-ra fired again, and Adora’s shield broke. _This is it,_ Adora thought to herself. _I failed._ One of the tie fighters behind her, She-ra’s right wingman, suddenly burst into flames, red laser fire ripping the ship apart and sending it into the trench wall. Adora’s eyes widened. 

“ _Woooo!_ ” Catra’s voice shouted out through the comm, the Falcon hurdling towards the trench from above. She opened fire on the other wingman, which slammed into She-ra’s tie advanced, sending it spinning off into space. “ _You’re all clear sweetheart now let’s blow this thing and go home!_ ” Adora smiled from ear to ear, and reaching out one more time, let the torpedos loose. 

Adora pulled her X-Wing up and out of the trench, flying as far and fast from the Fright Zone as she could, grouping back up with Adam, Catra and a Y-Wing. They all looked back towards the massive space station- for a moment, nothing, before the enormous station turned into a bright orange ball. The explosion was as loud as an explosion could be, as the Fright Zone was blown into oblivion. 

“ _Great shot ‘Dora that was one in a million!_ ” Catra called. Adora smiled. 

_Remember, Adora. The force will be with you. Always,_ Jade’s voice said before finally going silent. 

* * *

When Adora landed back in the hangar, she was swarmed by rebel soldiers, all cheering for her. 

“Adora!” Glimmer broke through the crowd, wrapping Adora in a hug. Adora returned the hug, scanning the crowd, looking for-

“Hey!” Catra cheered, breaking through some rebels and dashing over to Adora and Glimmer. Breaking free of the hug, Glimmer wrapped her arms around Catra, who shockingly returned the embrace, before breaking free and pulling Adora in for a quick peck on the lips. Adora’s face flushed red, and she broke out into a grin which Catra returned. 

“I knew there was more to you than money!” Glimmer teased, nudging Catra in the ribs. Catra only winked in response, ruffling Glimmer’s hair. Scorpia has shuffled over as well, though her main focus was on EM, who’s broken form was being lowered from the X-Wing by a pair of technicians. 

“Oh EM, why’d you have to be such a hero!” Scorpia sighed. Adora placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll donate any parts if you need them to repair her, she’s my best friend!” 

“We’ll get to work on her straight away,” the technician said, hauling off EM. Scorpia gave Glimmer, Catra and Adora a quick wave, and followed them off. Glimmer got between Catra and Adora, putting her arms around their waists, and led them off as well. 

* * *

Trumpets blared through the base’s loudspeakers as the doors slid open, revealing Adora in a red leather jacket, with a white undershirt, gray pants and red boots, standing next to Catra in her normal outfit, this time with her shirt collar not undone. They were greeted with a massive battalion of rebel soldiers, evenly divided, standing at attention at two sides of a long aisle which led to Princess Glimmer. Melog stood tall behind the pair, and the trio of heroes marched straight down the aisle. Adora looked around, meeting Catra’s eyes with a grin- Catra winked back. The trumpets continued to sound off as they made their way to the set of stairs where Glimmer awaited, the rest of the rebel leaders standing behind her on both sides. Adora, Catra and Melog walked up the stairs, stopping at the step right before Glimmer. She looked down towards them, a warm smile covering her face. First she turned to Melog, who bowed down a bit to meet Glimmer’s height, allowing her to slip a beautiful golden medal around their neck. Next, Glimmer turned to Catra and placed a matching golden medal around her neck, who winked at Glimmer with a smirk. 

“Thanks Sparkles.” Catra said, however the teasing in her tone held a certain warmth to it. Glimmer smiled and finally turned to Adora. Adora lowered her head, allowing Glimmer to place the medal around her neck. Glimmer beamed at Adora, nodding her head to the side as a certain astromech and her partner wobbled out from behind the Rebel leaders. 

“EM!” Adora cheered. EM beeped triumphantly. Adora smiled, looking at the pair of droids before finally bowing to Glimmer; Catra and Melog did the same. Smiling, Catra, Adora and Melog turned to face all the members of the rebellion in the audience of the ceremony. And with that, the crowd erupted into applause.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone who read enjoyed, it was pretty fun to make, my first fic ever so if it isnt too good my apologies!  
> -Joel


End file.
